6453 (945) In this year, Igor's retinue said to him, "The servants
of Sveinald are adorned with weapons and fine rainment, but we are naked.
Go forth with us, oh Prince, after tribute, that both you and we may profit
thereby." Igor' heeded their words, and he attacked Dereva in search
of tribute. He sought to increase the previous tribute and collected it
by violence from the people with the assistance of his followers. After
thus gathering the tribute, he returned to his city. On his homeward way,
he said to his folllowers, after some reflection, "Go forward with
the tribute. I shall turn back, and rejoin you later." He dismissed
his retainers on their journey homeward, but being desirous of still greater
booty he returned on his tracks with a few of his followers.

The Derevlians heard that he was again approaching, and consulted with
Mal, their prince, saying, "If a wolf come among sheep, he will take
away the whole flock one by one, unless he be killed. If we do not thus
kill him now, he will destroy us all." They then sent forward to Igor'
inquiring why he had returned, since he had collected all the tribute.
But Igor did not heed them, and the Derevlians came forth from the city
of Iskorosten' and slew Igor' and his company, for the number of the latter
was few. So Igor' was buried, and his tomb is near the city of Iskorosten'
in Dereva even to this day.

But Olga was in Kiev with her son, the boy Svyatoslav. His tutor was
Asmund, and the troop commmander was Sveinald, the father of Mstikha. The
Derevlians then said, "See, we have killed the Prince of Rus'. Let
us take his wife Olga for our Prince Mal, and then we shall obtain possession
of Svyatoslav, and work our will upon him." So they sent their best
men, twenty in number, to Olga by boat, and they arrivedd below Borichev
in their boat.

Olga was informed that the Derevlians had arrived, and summoned them
to her presence with a gracious welcome. When the Derevlians had thus announced
their arrival, Olga replied with an inquiry as to the reason of their coming.
The Derevlians then announced that their tribe had sent them to report
that they had slain her husband, because he was like a wolf, crafty and
ravening, but that their princes, who had thus preserved the land of Dereva,
were good, and that Olga should come and marry their prince Mal. For the
name of the Prince of Dereva was Mal.

Olga made this reply, "Your proposal is pleasing to me; indeed
my husband cannot rise again from the dead. But I desire to honor you tomorrow
in the presence of my people. Return to your boat, and remain there with
an aspect of arrogance. I shall send for you on the morrow, and you shall
say, 'We will not ride on horses or go on foot; carry us in our boat.'
And you shall be carried in your boat." Thus she dismissed them to
their vessel.

Now Olga gave command that a large deep ditch should be dug in the castle
with the hall, outside the city. Thus, on the morrow, Olga, as she sat
in the hall, sent for the strangers, and her messengers approached them
and said, "Olga summons you to great honor." But they replied,
"We will not ride on horseback nor in wagons, nor go on foot; carry
us in our boats." The people of Kiev then lamented, "Slavery
is our lot. Our Prince is killed, and our Princess intends to marry their
prince." So they carried the Derevlians in their boat. The latter
sat on the cross-benches in great robes, puffed up with pride. Thus they
were borne into the court before Olga, and when the men had brought the
Derevlians in, they dropped them into the trench along with the boat. Olga
bent over and inquired whether they found the honor to their taste. They
answered that it was worse than the death of Igor'. She then commanded
that they should be buried alive, and they were thus buried.

Olga then sent messages to the Derevlians to the effect that, if they
really required her presence, they should send after her their distinguished
men, so that she might go to their Prince with due honor, for otherwise
her people in Kiev would not let her go. When the Derevlians heard this
message, they gathered together the best men who governed the land of Dereva,
and sent them to her. When the Derevlians arrived, Olga commanded that
a bath should be made ready, and invited them to appear before her after
they had bathed. The bathhouse was then heated, and the Derevlians entered
in to bathe. Olga's men closed up the bathhouse behind them, and she gave
orders to set it on fire from the doors, so that the Derevlians were all
burned to death.

Olga then sent to the Derevlians the following message, "I am now
coming to you, so prepare great quantities of mead in the city where you
killed my husband, that I may weep over his grave and hold a funeral feast
for him." When they heard these words, they gathered great quantities
of honey and brewed mead. Taking a small escort, Olga made the journey
with ease, and upon her arrival at Igor's tomb, she wept for her husband.
She bade her followers pile up a great mound and when they had piled it
up, she also gave the command that a funeral feast should be held. Thereupon
the Derevlians sat down to drink, and Olga bade her followers wait upon
them.

The Derevlians inquired of Olga where the retinue was which they had
sent to meet her. She replied that they were following with her husband's
bodyguard. When the Derevlians were drunk, she bade her followers to fall
upon them, and went about herself egging on her retinue to the massacre
of the Derevlians. So they cut down five thousand of them; but Olga returned
to Kiev and prepared an army to attack the survivors.

The Derevlians then inquired what she desired of them, and expressed
their readiness to pay honey and furs. Olga retorted that at the moment
they had neither honey nor furs, but that she had one small request to
make. "Give me three pigeons," she said, "and three sparrows
from each house. I do not desire to impose a heavy tribute, like my husband,
but I require only this small gift from you, for you are impoverished by
the siege." The Derevlians rejoiced, and collected from each house
three pigeons and three sparrows, which they sent to Olga with their greetings.
Olga then instructed them, in view of their submission, to return to their
city, promising that on the morrow she would depart and return to her own
capital. The Derevlians re-entered their city with gladness, and when they
reported to the inhabitants, the people of the town rejoiced.

Now Olga gave to each soldier in her army a pigeon or a sparrow, and
ordered them to attach by thread to each pigeon and sparrow a piece of
sulfur bound with small pieces of cloth. When night fell, Olga bade her
soldiers release the pigeons and the sparrows. So the birds flew to their
nests, the pigeons to the cotes, and the sparrows under the eaves. The
dove-cotes, the coops, the porches, and the haymows were set on fire. There
was not a house that was not consumed, and it was impossible to extinguish
the flames, because all the houses caught on fire at once. The people fled
from the city, and Olga ordered her soldiers to catch them. Thus she took
the city and burned it, and captured the elders of the city. Some of the
other captives she killed, while some she gave to others as slaves to her
followers. The remnant she left to pay tribute.

She imposed upon them a heavy tribute, two parts of which went to Kiev,
and the third to Olga in Vyshgorod; for Vyshgorod was Olga's city.( She
then passed through the land of Dereva, accompanied by her son and her
retinue, establishing laws and tribute. Her trading posts and hunting-preserves
are there still. Then she returned with her son to Kiev, her city, where
she remained one year.

6456-6463 (948-955). Olga went to Greece, and arrived at Tsar'grad.
The reigning Emperor was named Constantine, son of Leo. Olga came before
him, and when he saw that she was very fair of countenance and wise as
well, the Emperor wondered at her intellect. He conversed with her and
remarked that she was worthy to reign with him in his city. When Olga heard
his words, she replied that she was still a pagan, and that if he desired
to baptise her, he should perforn this function himself; otherwise, she
was unwilling to accept baptism. The Emperor, with the assistance of the
Patriarch, accordingly baptised her.

After her baptism, the Emperor summoned Olga and made known to her that
he wished her to become his wife. But she replied, "How can you marry
me, after yourself baptizing me and calling me your daughter? For among
Christians that is unlawful, as you yourself must know." Then the
Emperor said, "Olga, you have outwitted me." He gave her many
gifts of gold, silver, silks, and various vases, and dismissed her, still
calling her his daughter.

Now Olga dwelt with her son Svyatoslav, and she urged him to be baptized,
but he would not listen to her suggestion, though when any man wished to
be baptized, he was not hindered, but only mocked. For to the infidels,
the Christian faith is foolishness. They do not comprehend it, because
they walk in darkness and do not see the glory of God. Their hearts are
hardened, and they can niether hear with their ears nor see with their
eyes.

Olga remarked oftentimes, "My son, I have learned to know God,
and am glad for it. If you know him, you too will rejoice." But he
did not heed her exhotation, answering, "How shall I alone accept
another faith? My followers will laugh at that." But his mother replied,
"If you are converted, all your subjects will perforce follow your
example." Svyatoslav did not heed his mother, but followed heathen
usages, for he did not know that whoever does not obey his mother shall
come to distress.

6477 (969). Svyatoslav announced to his mother and his boyars, "I
do not care to remain in Kiev, but should prefer to live in Pereyaslavets
on the Danube, since that is the centre of my realm, where all riches are
concentrated; gold, silks, wine, and various fruits from Greece, silver
and horses from Hungary and Bohemia, and from Rus' furs, wax, honey, and
slaves." But Olga made reply, "You behold me in my weakness.
Why do you desire to depart from me?" For she was already in precarious
health. She thus remonstrated with him and begged him first to bury her
and then to go wheresoever he would. Three days later Olga died.

Olga was the precursor of the Christian land, even as the dayspring
precedes the sun and as the dawn precedes the day. For she shone like the
moon by night, and she was radiant among the infidels like a pearl in the
mire, since the people were soiled, and not yet purified of their sin by
holy bpatism. But she herself was cleansed by this sacred purification.
She put off the sinful garments of the old Adam, and was clad in the new
Adam, which is Christ. Thus we say to her, "Rejoice in the Russes'
knowledge of God," for we were the first fruits of their reconciliation
with Him.

She was the first from Rus to enter the kingdom of God, and the sons
of Rus thus praise her as their leader, for since her death she has interceded
with God in their behalf. 1 Page